Dairy
Coulommiers
Coulommiers is a soft, bloomy-rind cow’s-milk cheese from the Île-de-France, closely related to Brie but smaller and often slightly thicker relative to its diameter. The white mould coat and pale, creamy paste deliver buttery, mushroom, and mild mushroom-lactic flavours; when fully ripe the paste softens from the outside inward toward a chalky or still-lactic centre depending on age. It is a classic French table cheese for cheese boards and sandwiches, and is sometimes baked whole. Unlike Brie de Meaux and Brie de Melun, Coulommiers is not always under the same protected names, so quality ranges from farmhouse wheels to industrial discs.
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Characteristics
Preparations
Traits
Grading systems
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History
Soft cheeses from Coulommiers and the Brie country supplied Paris and surrounding markets with smaller-format bloomy-rind wheels.
Coulommiers became a recognised commercial type distinct in size from large Brie de Meaux-style discs.
Industrial dairies expanded production of standardised Coulommiers for national retail distribution.
Farmhouse and affineur Coulommiers revived richer paste and longer ripening against bland mass-market discs.
Specialty shops and AOC Brie neighbours kept Coulommiers as a popular intermediate soft cheese of Île-de-France style.